In recent times it has become more and more popular to offer fresh food, salads, fruit, vegetables, chicken, but also cooked and prepared food, healthy food etc. from a food bar or a salad bar, where the customer can pick and compose a meal from a number of different products kept in canteens or pans. Since the food products may remain for some time in the pans, which may be accessed by quite a large number of persons, the requirements as to an appropriate and hygienic storing capability are high. The food products also have to be kept under such conditions, and at such a temperature, that bacterial growth is prevented and the products can be kept fresh, appetizing and are not ruined or deteriorated in any way due to the storing.
To be able to maintain an accurate temperature, e.g. above 0° (to avoid that the products be frozen), but below 8° C., or within more strictly specified temperature limits, several different arrangements have been proposed.
Different types of cooling arrangements are therefor used, the functioning of which is extremely important for the provisioning of an even temperature distribution in the food stored in the pans and an accurate cooling of the products in the pans or canteens, and even independently of the location of the food and of the pans in the food bar arrangement. Covering arrangements are used to cover and protect the pans with content. They are frequently opened by customers accessing the food, each time during a shorter or a longer time period, which makes it even more difficult to obtain and maintain an even and accurate temperature distribution throughout the food bar. When covering arrangements, doors or lids, are opened to provide access to the food products, air of a higher temperature will enter, which means that even more cooling is required. If fans are used, the products will be even more exposed to cool air, and the drying effect will be further increased, which means that the time period that the products can be stored in the food bar will be even shorter. In addition thereto, when the covering arrangements are opened, this will contribute to an even more uneven temperature distribution.
These factors affect the time period that the products can be kept in the pans, and they may have to be disposed of, even if they actually could have been stored for a longer time period, if stored under appropriate conditions.
Still further, the whole chain involved in delivering food, loading the canteens or pans, replacing food products, storing food products in the meanwhile, when pans are likely to soon being emptied, the different shelf times of different products, the varying consumption of different products, all are factors that involve a certain problematic as far as intermediate storing, replacement, refilling of pans, in general the logistics, etc. are concerned.
Products are often to be fetched from a refrigerating facility located distant from the food bar, which means that it is difficult to serve the customers, end users, in an optimal manner and timing is difficult if one or more pans are run out of content. It is time consuming as well as laborious for staff to all the time keep up to date information concerning the content, e.g. the filling degree in the pans, and to, at the appropriate moment in time, fetch products from an intermediate storage, involving carrying the pans or the products around in the store, which also may affect the temperature of the products, and the hygienic standards. It is an even more challenging task to order food products from a supplier in a manner such that what is offered in the food bar is in agreement with end user demands and meet high quality standards. Several technical as well as logistical problems are involved, both for service provider, different suppliers of different products having to deliver to several users (stores or similar) holding one or more food bars and the involved staff. It is extremely difficult for service provider, supplier and end user to assure that all requirements as to hygiene, quality, end user demand and availability are met. To keep control of all products in a food bar arrangement in a store is extremely difficult.
For a service provider it is almost an impossible task to keep control of each product in each food bar, in each pan or canteen, also varying with time of the year, time of the day, climate variations, end user category and “shelf” time, i.e. time that the products can be kept in a food bar, the functioning of the cooling arrangements, how often the products are accessed etc. for all different products. With today known food bars, a lot of manual control and inspection is required, and there is most likely to still be a risk that products are not offered in a desired composition, that too large amounts are provided of some products, to scarce amounts of others, that unnecessary waste of food results. It is also demanding a lot of staff to assure an accurate functioning, accurate conditions and accurate product offering in time. It is extremely laborious to have all requirements verified all time and to perform routine quality controls of all products requiring immense carefulness and reporting accuracy and correctness.